Elizabeth Minchilli leads a life that many of us can only dream of. The author of nine books on Italian food and culture, she divides her time between a rooftop apartment in Rome and a restored farmhouse in Umbria. Her monthly newsletter, a sort of diary of what’s she just done, where’s she’s eaten and what she’s about to do, is one of my favorite reads, copiously illustrated with great photos. Now she has a new book, Eating My Way Through Italy, that’s a celebration of Italian cuisine. I recently had a chance to speak with her.

Elizabeth, what was the overall idea behind the book? It’s not encyclopedic, nor is it a guidebook. It’s more like a love letter to Italian food, restaurants and recipes in selected Italian destinations. The idea behind the book was to inspire people to set out on their own to travel to places that they have never been to, with food as their guide. The book is not encyclopedic, but simply relates my own experiences following my own particular appetite. More often than not it has let me to places and people that I never would have encountered if I had stuck to the main roads.